Long-term reliable physical health monitoring by sweat pore-inspired perforated electronic skins

Hanwool Yeon; Haneol Lee; Yeongin Kim; Doyoon Lee; Youngjoo Lee; Jong-Sung Lee; Jiho Shin; Chanyeol Choi; Ji-Hoon Kang; Jun Min Suh; Hyunseok Kim; Hyun S Kum; Jaeyong Lee; Daeyeon Kim; Kyul Ko; Boo Soo Ma; Peng Lin; Sangwook Han; Sungkyu Kim; Sang-Hoon Bae; Taek-Soo Kim; Min-Chul Park; Young-Chang Joo; Eunjoo Kim; Jiyeon Han; Jeehwan Kim

doi:10.1126/sciadv.abg8459

Long-term reliable physical health monitoring by sweat pore-inspired perforated electronic skins

Sci Adv. 2021 Jun 30;7(27):eabg8459. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abg8459. Print 2021 Jun.

Authors

Hanwool Yeon^{1

2}, Haneol Lee^{1

2

3}, Yeongin Kim^{1

2}, Doyoon Lee^{1

2}, Youngjoo Lee⁴, Jong-Sung Lee⁵, Jiho Shin^{1

2}, Chanyeol Choi^{2

6}, Ji-Hoon Kang^{1

2}, Jun Min Suh^{1

2

5}, Hyunseok Kim^{1

2}, Hyun S Kum^{1

2}, Jaeyong Lee^{1

2}, Daeyeon Kim⁷, Kyul Ko⁷, Boo Soo Ma⁷, Peng Lin^{1

2

8}, Sangwook Han^{1

2

5}, Sungkyu Kim^{1

2

9}, Sang-Hoon Bae^{1

2}, Taek-Soo Kim¹⁰, Min-Chul Park⁷, Young-Chang Joo⁵, Eunjoo Kim¹¹, Jiyeon Han^{12

13}, Jeehwan Kim^{14

2

15}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
² Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
³ Division of Advanced Materials Engineering, Jeonbuk National University, Jeonju, South Korea.
⁴ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
⁵ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea.
⁶ Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
⁷ Center for Opto-Electronic Materials and Devices, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul, South Korea.
⁸ College of Computer Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
⁹ HMC, Department of Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials Engineering, Sejong University, Seoul, South Korea.
¹⁰ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, South Korea.
¹¹ Skincare Division, Amorepacific R&D Center, Yongin, South Korea.
¹² Department of Dermatology, Chung Ang University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea. sviviria@amorepacific.com jeehwan@mit.edu.
¹³ Clinical Research Lab, Skincare Division, Amorepacific R&D Center, Yongin, South Korea.
¹⁴ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. sviviria@amorepacific.com jeehwan@mit.edu.
¹⁵ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.

Abstract

Electronic skins (e-skins)-electronic sensors mechanically compliant to human skin-have long been developed as an ideal electronic platform for noninvasive human health monitoring. For reliable physical health monitoring, the interface between the e-skin and human skin must be conformal and intact consistently. However, conventional e-skins cannot perfectly permeate sweat in normal day-to-day activities, resulting in degradation of the intimate interface over time and impeding stable physical sensing. Here, we present a sweat pore-inspired perforated e-skin that can effectively suppress sweat accumulation and allow inorganic sensors to obtain physical health information without malfunctioning. The auxetic dumbbell through-hole patterns in perforated e-skins lead to synergistic effects on physical properties including mechanical reliability, conformability, areal mass density, and adhesion to the skin. The perforated e-skin allows one to laminate onto the skin with consistent homeostasis, enabling multiple inorganic sensors on the skin to reliably monitor the wearer's health over a period of weeks.

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